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Biography
Infobox musical artist|name = Gary Stewart| image =|caption =|image_size =|background = solo_singer|birth_date = Birth date|1944|05|28|birth_place = Jenkins, Kentucky|Jenkins , Kentucky , United States|U.S. |death_date = death date and age|2003|12|16|1944|05|28|death_place = Fort Pierce, Florida|Fort Pierce , Florida , United States|U.S. |instrument = Piano , Guitar , Bass guitar|Bass |genre = Country music|Country , Outlaw country|Outlaw Country , Honky-tonk#Honky tonk music|Honky-Tonk , Southern rock |occupation = Musician , Songwriter |years_active = 19682003|label = Cory, Kapp Records|Kapp , Decca Records|Decca , RCA Records|RCA , MCA Records|MCA , HighTone Records|HighTone , Billy Bob's|Smith Music Group |associated_acts = Dean Dillon , Dickey Betts , Gregg Allman |website =|notable_instruments = Gary Stewart (May 28, 1944 December 16, 2003)Some sources state he was born in 1945, but Kentucky birth records and the Social Security (United States)|Social Security death index proves he was born in 1944. The latter confirms his death date. See Gary R Stewart birth record, Commonwealth of Kentucky, vol. 061, certificate number 30044, 1944. was a country music ian and songwriter known for his distinctive vibrato voice and his southern rock|southern rock influenced , outlaw country sound. During the peak of his popularity in the mid-1970s Time (magazine)|Time magazine described him as the "king of Honky tonk|honkytonk ."cite journal | last = DeVoss | first = David | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = A Honky-Tonk Man | journal = Time | volume = | issue = | pages = | publisher = | location=New York | date = September 27, 1976 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918379,00.html? internalid=ACA | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2008-02-10 He was often introduced as the "King of Honky-Tonk"; see, for instance, the intro to his 2003 live album ''Live at Billy Bob's''. He is remembered for a series of country chart hits from the mid- to late- 1970s, his biggest hit being " She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles) ," which topped the U.S. country singles charts in 1975.
Early life and career
Named after actor Gary Cooper , Gary R. Stewart was born in the Letcher County, Kentucky , town of Jenkins, Kentucky|Jenkins , the son of George and Georgia Stewart. In 1959 his father, a coal mining|coal miner , sustained an injury while working in the mines, and shortly afterwards the family moved to Fort Pierce, Florida|Fort Pierce , a city on Florida|Florida's Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic coast."A Honky-Tonk Man"; cite book | last = Wolff | first = Kurt | authorlink = | coauthors = Orla Duane | title = Country Music: The Rough Guide | publisher = Rough Guides | year = 2000 | location = London | pages = 376377 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1-85828-534-8, cite web | last = McDonough | first = Jimmy | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Little Junior, King of the Honky-Tonks: The Life and Death of Gary Stewart | work = Perfect Sound Forever | publisher = | year = 2004 | url = http://www.furious.com/perfect/garystewart.html | format = Electronic Journal | doi = | accessdate = 2008-02-10, and cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gary Stewart: Biography | work = CMT.com | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/stewart_gary_1_/bio.jhtml | doi = | accessdate = 2008-02-10
Learning guitar and piano , Stewart began touring with local bands and writing songs in his teens. He married Mary Lou Taylor, more than three years his senior, at age seventeen and began working days in an airplane factory. He still played in rock and country bands at night. While playing in an Okeechobee, Florida , honky-tonk known as the Wagon Wheel, Stewart met country singer Mel Tillis , who advised Stewart to travel to Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville to pitch his songs. He recorded a few sides for the small Cory label in 1964 and began co-writing songs with local policeman Bill Eldridge. Stewart and Eldridge wrote Stonewall Jackson (musician)|Stonewall Jackson's 1965 country hit, "Poor Red Georgia Dirt." Signed to the Kapp Records|Kapp label in 1968, Stewart made several unsuccessful recordings. But several songwriting successes followed for artists like Billy Walker (musician)|Billy Walker ("She Goes Walking Through My Mind," "Traces of a Woman," "It's Time to Love Her"), Cal Smith ("You Can't Housebreak a Tomcat", "It Takes Me All Night Long"), and Nat Stuckey ("Sweet Thang And Cisco"). He even played piano for a time in Charley Pride|Charley Pride's band the Pridesmen, and can be heard on Pride's live In Person double-album. Disappointed with Music Row , however, he soon returned to Florida and resumed playing countrified rock 'n' roll in local clubs and bars. Country Music: The Rough Guide , 376-377; "A Honky-Tonk Man"; "Little Junior, King of the Honky-Tonks: The Life and Death of Gary Stewart"; Gary Stewart: Biography ; cite book | last = Stambler | first = Irwin | authorlink = | coauthors = Grelun Landon | title = Country Music: The Encyclopedia | publisher = St. Martin's Press | year = 1997 | location = New York | pages = 464465 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-312-15121-7, cite book | last = Bogdanov | first = Vladimir | authorlink = | coauthors = Chris Woodstra, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine | title = All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music | publisher = Backbeat Books | year = 2003 | location = San Francisco | pages = 721722 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-87930-760-9
Peak of career
Stewart was dropped from Kapp and then from Decca Records|Decca , but a series of demo tapes, including some countrified Motown Sound|Motown tunes, found their way into the hands of producer Roy Dea, who convinced Jerry Bradley to sign Stewart to RCA Records . He returned to Nashville in 1973 and recorded a cover version of " Ramblin' Man (Allman Brothers Band song)|Ramblin' Man " by the The Allman Brothers Band|Allman Brothers , both of whom were Stewart's personal friends. It charted at only #63 on the country charts, but his follow-up, 1974's "Drinkin' Thing," became a top-ten country hit. Stewart's album Out of Hand was released in early 1975. "Out of Hand," the title cut from the album, became a #4 country hit and was followed by number one hit "She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)." Country Music: The Rough Guide , 376-377; "A Honky-Tonk Man"; "Little Junior, King of the Honky-Tonks: The Life and Death of Gary Stewart"; Gary Stewart: Biography ; Country Music: The Encyclopedia , 464-465; All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music , 721-722.
The album Out of Hand , which climbed to #6 on the Billboard country albums chart, has since become one of the most critically lauded country albums of the 1970s. Rock critic Robert Christgau gave the album an A- saying that it "was the best regular issue country LP I've heard in about five years."cite book | last = Christgau | first = Robert | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Rock Albums of the '70s: A Critical Guide | publisher = Da Capo Press | year = 1990 | location = New York | pages = 373 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-306-80409-3 Rolling Stone gave it high praise as well, stating that, "With practitioners like Stewart around, honky-tonkand rockabillymay not be dead yet."cite journal | last = Miller | first = Jim | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gary Stewart: Out of Hand | journal = Rolling Stone | volume = | issue = 190 | pages = | publisher = | location = | date = July 3, 1975 | url = http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/garystewart/albums/album/281494/review/5943163/out_of_hand | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2008-02-10 Thom Jurek of Allmusic later gave the album five of five stars and stated that: "A strong case could be made for Out of Hand as one of the Top 100 country records of all time. It might be in this writer's Top Ten!" All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music , 721-722. Country music critic Bill Malone called Out of Hand "one of the greatest honky-tonk country albums ever recorded."cite book | last = Malone | first = Bill C. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Don't Get Above Your Raisin': Country Music and the Southern Working Class | publisher = University of Illinois Press | year = 2006 | location = Urbana | pages = 363 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-252-07366-5
Later in 1975, MCA Records|MCA released Stewart's old Kapp material scoring a #15 hit with the single "You're Not the Woman You Use to Be." For the rest of the 1970s Stewart played the honky tonks with his road band, The Honky Tonk Liberation Army, and recorded similar albums with modest success for RCA: 1976's ''Steppin' Out''; 1977's Your Place or Mine (which featured guest artists Nicolette Larson , Emmylou Harris , and Rodney Crowell ); and 1978's Little Junior . These albums spawned several top forty hit singles, including: "Flat Natural Born Good-Timin' Man," "In Some Room Above the Street," "Single Again," "Your Place or Mine," "Quits," and "Whiskey Trip." Country Music: The Rough Guide , 376-377; "A Honky-Tonk Man"; "Little Junior, King of the Honky-Tonks: The Life and Death of Gary Stewart"; Gary Stewart: Biography ; Country Music: The Encyclopedia , 464-465; All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music , 721-722; ''Rock Albums of the '70s: A Critical Guide , 373. His 1977 ode to marital distress entitled "Ten Years of This," from the album Your Place or Mine , was a favorite of Bob Dylan and a #16 hit."Little Junior, King of the Honky-Tonks: The Life and Death of Gary Stewart." Dylan notes his admiration of for Gary Stewart in a 1978 interview with Playboy . See, for instance, http://www.interferenza.com/bcs/interw/play78.htm.
Later career and death
Though his late 1970s albums were well-received by critics and his core audience, Stewart never established a large audience. He was often labeled as "too country" for rock listeners and "too rock" for country fans. In 1980, he released the Chips Moman produced Cactus and a Rose which featured Southern rockers Gregg Allman , Dickey Betts , Mike Lawler , and Bonnie Bramlett . It did not garner much airplay and RCA teamed Stewart up with songwriter Dean Dillon for a pair of duet records. Soon after, Stewart returned to Florida, where alcoholism and drug use kept him from recording for much of the 1980s. His son, Gary Joseph Stewart, committed suicide late in the decade as well. Stewart signed with the HighTone Records|HighTone label in 1988 and recorded three albums over the next five years. These albums included fan favorites like the minor-hit "An Empty Glass (That's the Way the Day Ends)" (written by Stewart and Dillon), "Let's Go Jukin'" (written by Stewart and Betts), and "Brand New Whiskey" (written by Stewart and his wife).
Stewart continued to tour through the 1990s, playing venues such as Fort Worth, Texas|Fort Worth's Billy Bob's Texas several times a year.cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gary Stewart | work = Lone Star Music | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.lonestarmusic.com/index.php? file=a-artist& iArtistId=975 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-02-13 During this time Bob Dylan, while touring with Tom Petty in Florida, drove out of his way to meet Stewart, "confessing that he'd played Stewart's ode to marital malaise 'Ten Years of This' over and over, the record casting a spell over him.""Little Junior, King of the Honky-Tonks: The Life and Death of Gary Stewart." In 2003, Stewart released ''Live at Billy Bob's Texas , his first album in ten years and his first ever live album. Reviewers at Allmusic gave it good marks.Allmusic|class=album|id=r630012|pure_url=yes Allmusic
On November 26, 2003, the day before Thanksgiving , his wife of nearly forty-three years, Mary Lou, died of pneumonia . Stewart, who had been scheduled to play Billy Bob's three days later, canceled his concert appearances. His friends later told reporters that he was extremely despondent after Mary Lou's death. On December 16, his daughter's boyfriend and Stewart's very close friend, Bill Hardman visited Stewart's Fort Pierce, Florida, home to check on his welfare. They found Stewart dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the neck."Little Junior, King of the Honky-Tonks: The Life and Death of Gary Stewart"; cite news | last = Flippo | first = Chet | coauthors = | title = Honky-Tonk Singer Gary Stewart Dies: Out of Hand country rocker apparently committed suicide | work = CMT.com | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = December 17, 2003 | url = http://www.cmt.com/artists/news/1482923/20031217/stewart_gary_1_.jhtml | accessdate = 2008-02-10, and cite news | last = Passy | first = Charles | coauthors = | title = The Ballad of Gary & Mary Lou: Gary Stewart was a Hard-Partying Country Star, the King of Honky-Tonk, but it was his Devoted Lou Who Kept His Life Together, and When She Died, He Just Couldn't Go On | work = Palm Beach Post | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = March 14, 2004 | url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-92192627.html | accessdate = 2008-02-10
Discography
Albums
Year
Album
US Country
Label
1973
''You're Not the Woman You Used to Be
MCA
1975
Out of Hand
6
RCA
1976
''Steppin' Out
15
1977
Your Place or Mine
17
1978
Little Junior
35
1979
Gary
45
1980
Cactus and a Rose
49
1982
Brotherly Love (with Dean Dillon )
23
1983
Those Were the Days (with Dean Dillon )
54
1988
Brand New
63
Hightone
1990
Battleground
1993
''I'm a Texan
2003
''Live at Billy Bob's
Smith Music Group
Singles
Year
Single
Chart Positions
Album
US Country
CAN Country
1973
Ramblin' Man "
63
Single only
1974
" Drinkin' Thing "
10
Out of Hand
Out of Hand "
4
10
1975
" She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles) "
1
4
"You're Not the Woman You Used to Be"
15
22
''You're Not the Woman You Used to Be
"Flat Natural Born Good-Timin' Man"
20
17
''Steppin' Out
1976
"Oh, Sweet Temptation"
23
17
"In Some Room Above the Street"
15
14
"Your Place or Mine"
11
7
Your Place or Mine
1977
"Ten Years of This"
16
25
"Quits"
26
''Steppin' Out
1978
"Whiskey Trip"
16
5
Little Junior
"Single Again"
36
45
"Stone Wall (Around Your Heart)"
41
1979
"Shady Streets"
66
44
Gary
"Mazelle"
75
1980
"Cactus and a Rose"
48
Cactus and the Rose
"Are We Dreamin' the Same Dream"/ "Roarin'"
66
1981
"Let's Forget That We're Married"
72
''Gary's Greatest
"She's Got a Drinking Problem"
36
1982
"Brotherly Love" (with Dean Dillon )
41
Brotherly Love
"She Sings Amazing Grace"
83
1983
"Those Were the Days" (with Dean Dillon)
47
Those Were the Days
"Smokin' in the Rockies" (with Dean Dillon)
71
1984
"Hey, Bottle of Whiskey"
75
Singles only
"I Got a Bad Attitude"
64
1988
"Brand New Whiskey"
63
Brand New
1989
"An Empty Glass (That's the Way the Day Ends)"
64
"Rainin', Rainin', Rainin'"
77
References
Reflist|2
Sources and external links
Sources
cite book
| last = Bogdanov | first = Vladimir | authorlink = | coauthors = Chris Woodstra, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine | title = All Music Guide to Country: The Definitive Guide to Country Music | publisher = Backbeat Books | year = 2003 | location = San Francisco | pages = 721722 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-87930-760-9
cite book
| last = Christgau | first = Robert | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Rock Albums of the '70s: A Critical Guide | publisher = Da Capo Press | year = 1990 | location = New York | pages = 373 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-306-80409-3
cite journal
| last = Dansby | first = Andrew | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Country Singer Stewart Dead: Seventies star fused southern rock and honky-tonk | journal = Rolling Stone | volume = | issue = | pages = | publisher = | location = | date = December 19, 2003 | url = http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/garystewart/articles/story/5935279/country_singer_stewart_dead | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2008-02-19
cite journal
| last = DeVoss | first = David | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = A Honky-Tonk Man | journal = Time | volume = | issue = | pages = | publisher = | location=New York | date = September 27, 1976 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918379,00.html? internalid=ACA | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2008-02-10
cite news
| last = Flippo | first = Chet | coauthors = | title = Honky-Tonk Singer Gary Stewart Dies: Out of Hand country rocker apparently committed suicide | work = CMT.com | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = December 17, 2003 | url = http://www.cmt.com/artists/news/1482923/20031217/stewart_gary_1_.jhtml | accessdate = 2008-02-10
cite book
| last = Malone | first = Bill C. | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Don't Get Above Your Raisin': Country Music and the Southern Working Class | publisher = University of Illinois Press | year = 2006 | location = Urbana | pages = 363 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-252-07366-5
cite web
| last = McDonough | first = Jimmy | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Little Junior, King of the Honky-Tonks: The Life and Death of Gary Stewart | work = Perfect Sound Forever | publisher = | year = 2004 | url = http://www.furious.com/perfect/garystewart.html | format = Electronic Journal | doi = | accessdate = 2008-02-10
cite journal
| last = Miller | first = Jim | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gary Stewart: Out of Hand | journal = Rolling Stone | volume = | issue = 190 | pages = | publisher = | location = | date = July 3, 1975 | url = http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/garystewart/albums/album/281494/review/5943163/out_of_hand | doi = | id = | accessdate = 2008-02-10
cite news
| last = Passy | first = Charles | coauthors = | title = The Ballad of Gary & Mary Lou: Gary Stewart was a Hard-Partying Country Star, the King of Honky-Tonk, but it was his Devoted Lou Who Kept His Life Together, and When She Died, He Just Couldn't Go On | work = Palm Beach Post | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = March 14, 2004 | url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-92192627.html | accessdate = 2008-02-10
cite book
| last = Stambler | first = Irwin | authorlink = | coauthors = Grelun Landon | title = Country Music: The Encyclopedia | publisher = St. Martin's Press | year = 1997 | location = New York | pages = 464465 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-312-15121-7
cite book
| last = Wolff | first = Kurt | authorlink = | coauthors = Orla Duane | title = Country Music: The Rough Guide | publisher = Rough Guides | year = 2000 | location = London | pages = 376377 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 1-85828-534-8
cite web
| last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gary Stewart: Biography | work = CMT.com | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/stewart_gary_1_/bio.jhtml | doi = | accessdate = 2008-02-10
cite web
| last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gary Stewart | work = Lone Star Music | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.lonestarmusic.com/index.php? file=a-artist& iArtistId=975 | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-02-13
cite web
| last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gary Stewart | work = Rolling Stone | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/garystewart | format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-02-19 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080603013542/ http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/garystewart |archivedate = 2008-06-03
cite web
| last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Gary Stewart | work = Allmusic | publisher = | date = | url = Allmusic|class=artist|id=p1825|pure_url=yes| format = | doi = | accessdate = 2008-02-19 | location=Ann Arbor, MI
External links
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p1825|pure_url=yes Gary Stewart at Allmusic
http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/stewart_gary_1_/artist.jhtml Gary Stewart at CMT|CMT.com
http://www.lonestarmusic.com/index.php? file=a-artist& iArtistId=975 Gary Stewart at Lone Star Music
http://www.furious.com/perfect/garystewart.html "Little Junior, King of the Honky-Tonks: The Life and Death of Gary Stewart," Perfect Sound Forever , by Jimmy McDonough
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,918379-1,00.html "A Honky-Tonk Man," Time , by David DeVoss
http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php? name=Gary+Stewart Gary Stewart at Robert Christgau|Robert Christgau's website
http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/arch/stewart.php "Gary Stewart Kicks the Shit Off Your Shoes," ''Tom Hull's Old Rock Critic Writings , Tom Hull
Persondata | NAME = Stewart, Gary | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = 1944-05-28 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Jenkins, Kentucky|Jenkins , Kentucky , United States|U.S. | DATE OF DEATH = 2003-12-16 | PLACE OF DEATH = Fort Pierce, Florida|Fort Pierce , Florida , United States|U.S. DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Gary Category:1945 births Category:2003 deaths Category:People from Jenkins, Kentucky Category:American country singers Category:Musicians who committed suicide Category:Suicides by firearm in Florida
de:Gary Stewart fr:Gary Stewart (chanteur)
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